I was intrigued by this book because I remember hearing Lumumba's name in the news when still pretty young, 7-8, but was too young to appreciate why he was in the news. Now I know.
This is a fast-paced and factual look at the turbulent first seven months of Congo's independence from Belgium in the summer of 1960 -- the waning days of an exhausted Eisenhower administration. Lumumba was graced with charismatic skills and a facile mind. As the new prime minister, he hoped to steer Congo down a nationalist path of its own, asking for help from the West and the USSR. He was too immature and inexperienced to play this masterful game, and while he initially kicked out the Soviets, he raised fateful fears in the West that he could be another Castro in the making, sealing his unkind fate.
This book helped me connect the dots between many of those long-ago names I heard as a child: Moise Tshombe, Joseph Mobutu, Kwame Nkrumah, Dag Hammarskjöld and many others. Highly recommended.

Bill,

If you're interested in the Congo, this might interest you as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leopold%27s_Ghost

Wink, I read that one several years ago, and it may be what gave me a heart for the tragedy surrounding Congo's independence in 1960.

Another man who wanted something good for his people murdered by American interests.

They installed a puppet in his place, who plundered the country.

The CIA was flying in arms and ammo in UN marked planes.

All because they were supposed to be fighting communism, and it makes no difference who gets hurt!